My reason: I collapsed yesterday (Monday, Sept 27 on a Bangkok Skytrain). I barfed–very embarrassing. The staff revived me with smelling salts, they ushered me into a wheelchair and took me to their first aid station. They helped to lay me down on a bed; I sniffed more smelling salts; they gave me water. I became very very cold; my body trembled. The Skytrain staff (two men and two women) covered me with a heavy blanket. They began to massage my legs which shook uncontrollably. It took an hour for my head to clear. Then they put me in a taxi. At home the dizziness and hurt in the head persisted. It took all night to clear my head. In the morning I was tickled to discover that I was A-okay. Count my blessings. I LOVE THAILAND TOO MUCH.

I must have fallen on my head when I blacked out on the SkyTrain as there is a big bump on the back of my head. It’s sore to the touch.

Good thing I didn’t fall on my you-know-what.

I am reluctant to travel, especially for a long bus trip from Bkk to Pattaya.

GOOD NEWS ONE. I finished the script, ‘THE SPAGHETTI TRAFFICKER &; Other Bangkok Characters” and sent it to the publisher last Saturday.

GOOD NEWS TWO. I got an email from the Director of the Religious Studies Program at Mahidol University, Salaya campus. He wants me to continue teaching “Hollywood & the Buddha” in January 2011. They pay well. It’s a fun class. The students, including monks, get to see character-driven films and report their findings to me and the class. I have them answer specific questions in their report. This is my third year teaching at Mahidol.

GOOD NEWS THREE. I started working on a new book, WHY CAN’T PEOPLE BEHAVE LIKE DOGS? Here’s a quote from Charles de Gaulle:

“The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.” Charles de Gaulle, former two-time French President

Below is a dedication to Audrey Hepburn. When asked to share her to the UN, here’s what she delivered:
Ms. Hepburn was the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and held the position until her death in 1983.

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness…For lovely eyes, seek
out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the
hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of
your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.”

She called her delivery ‘beauty tips.’

A marvelous woman for all ages.

The book is about people who experience epiphanies (joyous insighs). Included are the female version of Oskar Schlinder, Father Kolbe (the priest in a Nazi death camp. He volunteered to take a place of a man who was to be sent to a dungeon and starve to death with nine other prisoners. The Nazis occasionally checked the condition of the condemned men. The SS guards were astonished at Kolbe’s attitude, as was the Camp’s Kommandant. Aldo included are the Dog Whisperer and Oprah (do you know she is the recipient of “The Order of the Smile?” Speilberg and the femme version of Oska Schlinder are also recipients of ‘the Smile” award.

The book is also about dawg behavior. Before I watched the Dog Whisperer at work with dawgs, I was bitten in the leg by a dawg on the grounds of a Bangkok temple. My friend said let’s take a short cut to the hotel in Banglamphuu section of Bangkok. A bunch of dawgs yelped and attacked us. My friend said run run run. I walked, thinking temple dawgs are harmless. Their bark is a bluff. Pay no attention. I was wrong. The leader of the pack tore into my right leg. I felt I was being snared by a shark. After leaning tactics from the Dog Whisperer I put it to use on a remote part of the resort island of Ko Samet when I was attacked TWICE. Read all about it when the book comes out. The Dog Whisperer has had many epiphanies; he has helped thousands of people, including Phil Jackson, the Los Angeles Lakers coach.

GOOD NEWS FOUR. I am in the ninth day of self-hypnosis training. Da Brewsta gave me the CD a year ago. I started listening to it during the 4-hour dialysis treatment. After day 14 of the training I will go solo, that is, not rely on the tape. I am using hypnosis to restore kidney functioning to its normal level, which is 1. Two weeks ago I was at level 7.5. The kidney doc said if I stop dialysis I will not survive at this high level. As we know, in hypnosis the conscious mind is bypassed to the subconscious mind which, after repetition, starts to make changes for us The tape is one hour 45 minutes. Every time I listen to it I find something i previously missed. To improve my kidney function I made three mental movies. I re-play the movies several times a day. I use my mantra many times during the day and night–it’s “happy healing.” It’s a cool way to trip out.